Letter from the Chair
Significant Moments, 2022 Issue
Dear Biostatistics Community,
My warmest greetings to all members and friends of Columbia Biostatistics! It is with immense pride in our accomplishments so far and great enthusiasm for what the future holds for our department that we share our latest departmental newsletter – “Significant Moments”. In addition to the increasing vibrancy of our community as we get back fully in-person post the COVID-19 Pandemic, the past year has been one of many accomplishments and thoughtful strategic planning. I am proud to say that the department has continued to thrive with high levels of productivity and visibility. This issue highlights several, but not all, of the accomplishments of the department’s faculty, trainees, and dedicated staff members.
Our educational offerings range from NIH funded pipeline programs to a wide array of graduate programs at the master's and doctoral levels - spanning both domestic and international programs. Our pipeline programs expanded with the addition of a new NIH funded program entitled “Summer Institute for Biostatistics and Data Science at Columbia [“SIBDS@Columbia”] – a program that the department used to have in the past and reclaimed with this new grant. I will co-lead this program with Dr. Christine Mauro. SIBDS@Columbia complements our other NIH (and Columbia) funded flagship and pioneering Biostatistics and Epidemiology Summer Training (BEST) program, which focuses exclusively on trainees from underrepresented groups, by increasing the number of trainees and additionally prioritizing health data science. This past summer, we hosted 14 and 11 trainees in the BEST and SIBDS@Columbia programs, respectively, hailing from universities across the nation. On other fronts, the professional development of our graduate students and postdoctoral fellows is enhanced via vibrant student programs such as the Computing Club and Graduate Student Research Seminars. Our graduating MS and MPH students participated in a day-long Practicum Symposium with sessions chaired by our PhD students—a resounding success thanks to superb organization by our MS Programs Director, Prof. Qixuan Chen! As part of our NIH-Fogarty funded APHREA-DST grant that I lead as a Principal Investigator, we had the privilege of hosting six visitors (two fellow principal investigators and four Faculty Scholars) from our partner institutions, University of Nairobi (Kenya) and Addis Ababa University (Ethiopia)– extending our outreach to the global level.
On the research front, our department has continued to produce high-quality peer-reviewed publications in innovative new methodologic approaches and state-of-the-art collaborative interdisciplinary research. Our research activities are funded by an ever-increasing federally funded portfolio. Its reach continues to cover every corner of CUIMC’s research enterprise and beyond. The department has been taking significant bold steps toward asserting leadership in public health data science at Columbia and beyond. A second Public Health Data Science Summit is being organized at the school level (for January 12-13, 2023) with critical leadership and input from our department. Both Dr. Jeff Goldsmith and I are working with Vice Dean Gary Miller to organize the summit, and several members of our faculty will lead and participate in key panels. We encourage all of you to sign up and participate in this exciting and forward-looking summit. This summit is particularly important as it is being held during our MSPH Centennial Celebration year at a time when the future of our field continues to be reshaped and remolded with the infusion of data science innovations and principles.
We are very proud to announce that four outstanding new faculty have joined our growing faculty—please see their full profiles in this issue—adding strengths in critical and forward-looking areas of expertise. We also had the bittersweet moment of bidding farewell to two outstanding and long-serving faculty members (Professors Wei Yann Tsai and Xinhua Liu) in a well-attended farewell ceremony. Both Professors Tsai and Liu will continue to be part of our community as Emeritus Faculty. We will continue to add several new faculty hires over the next few years, according to our strategic planning.
One important activity that the department undertook this past year was the day-long retreat, held on September 1, 2022. This was conducted after long preparations and planning (with a planning committee co-chaired by Profs. Ying Wei and Tod Ogden), and covered a deep discussion on a wide-ranging host of issues around the educational and research-related activities. The main goal of this retreat was to assess the current status of the department and chart ways forward to overcome any existing challenges and to better position the department as a leader in our field. We are now following up on the recommendations and acting on prioritized implementations.
Throughout this issue, you will find synopses on departmental activities, spotlights on our outstanding staff; profiles on our trailblazing faculty; and details on activities by our award-winning talented students and distinguished alumni who are making significant contributions to biomedical research and education through their quantitative skills. We hope that this issue will give you a good sense of how the department is continuing to fulfill its academic mission and also planning for its even brighter future.
I feel very proud and privileged to continue leading such a world-class department. I gratefully acknowledge the superb support from Columbia Mailman and CUIMC leadership, and the collegiality within the department that assures a cultivating, nurturing, and inviting environment for all its members. Given Mailman's commitment to creating a truly anti-racist environment (as enshrined in its FORWARD initiative —for which I have the privilege of co-leading its accountability cabinet starting this Fall), I will continue to work with all department members and beyond to make sure the department’s excellence goes beyond its core academic mission, and includes its dedication to creating a truly anti-racist working and learning environment and to being on the leading edge of working towards a healthy world. Finally, I want to express deep appreciation and gratefulness to the many devoted and passionate supporters of our mission—including the Sanford Bolton Estate, the family of Roslyn and Leslie Goldstein, and the family of Cynthia and Robert Citron. As always, I close by inviting all of you to remain engaged with the department. We hope to have the privilege of hosting you as visitors to share your knowledge and wisdom and, hopefully, as potential collaborators, new colleagues and/or future trainees at all levels.
Kiros Berhane, PhD
Chair of the Department of Biostatistics at Columbia Mailman School